PBX Systems Penfield NY

The term PBX system stands for private branch exchange. A PBX, also known as a phone switch or a phone switching device, connects office telephones in a business with the public telephone network. A PBX' strongest competitor would be a voice over Internet protocol. There are many interesting points regarding both, and ultimately you will have to decide what system would best fulfill your telephone system needs.

Today, PBX systems are expected to handle an extremely wide variety of duties beyond just simple connection to the public phone system. The initial functions of a PBX were to route incoming calls to the appropriate extension in an office and to share phone lines between these extensions. Over time, many new functions have been added, such as automated greetings for callers using recorded messages, dialing menus, connections to voice mail, automated call distribution, teleconferencing, and more. The range of features offered by a PBX will vary, usually in proportion to the price of the system chosen. Some of the most popular functions can include answering calls with a custom business greeting, and providing a single business number that gives access to all company employees and departments. The system can offer a menu of options for directing a call, such as connecting to a specific department or extension and providing a directory of employee extensions that are accessible by inputting digits corresponding to the employee's name. A PBX system can also evenly distribute calls to a department among available employees at that time, allow transfers or calls between extensions, conference multiple incoming calls with employee extensions, provide detailed call records and real time system management, place callers on hold when they are waiting for an available department employee, and play music or custom messages whenever callers are waiting on hold. Though this is an impressive list of functions, remember not all are available on every PBX system. The most difficult feature to provide is the Automated Call Distribution (ACD), and usually, vendors will charge a premium for products that include this feature. If a feature is not included in the base PBX system, more than likely it can be purchased as an additional add on.

PBX hardware (PBX phones) is a mature technology that offers many benefits for the right type of application. As a minimum, multiple extensions in a single office can share the cost of incoming phone lines. It is not necessary to pay for a separate phone line for each extension. Capital costs for the equipment can be amortized and depreciated over time. Even though system management and maintenance continue to add cost after installation, today's systems are more robust and easier to manage than they have been in the past. Incoming calls are typically free or very low cost. In more expensive systems, some level of system expansion is allowed for scalability. Businesses that can reliably predict their needs can usually find a cost-effective system. As features and functionality continue to be added, a PBX device can add productivity to an office environment. Almost any feature that can be imagined for telecommunications can usually be found somewhere among the many vendors and offerings in this space - as long as customers are willing to pay the associated price.

The biggest problems with standard PBX systems revolve around the problems of flexibility, costs, and adaptability. Costs are a large problem in two separate areas. First, getting one of these PBX phone systems up and running can be extremely high. If you opt to purchase a system that is at the lower end of the price scale, the equipment will have fewer features, such as no extensive voice mail options or automatic call distribution features. Many of the smaller businesses find they cannot afford the cost of a PBX system, so they continue to take calls on individual lines, never developing a unique business identity. Another cost issue involving the PBX systems is maintenance and support of the system. As PBX equipment continues to add new functionality, there will be a need for highly trained support people to maintain hardware, software and roll out system upgrades, and system management. This will, in all likelihood, end up being quite costly. As with so many devices based on hardware and software infrastructure, the other problem with PBX telephone systems would be with flexibility. Most PBX hardware is limited in its flexibility to add more internal and external lines to support more users. Low end systems are extremely difficult in this regard. Small businesses may need to purchase a new PBX system every two years in order to accommodate their business growth. Flexibility will also end up being an issue when it comes to features. While almost any feature can ultimately be purchased, many times, important features cannot be added to an existing system, which would end up forcing businesses to purchase brand new systems to get the features they want or need.

Computer-telephone integration will eventually move from the specialized computers of today until they become integrated with the other computer systems that a business runs on. As recently as a few years ago, CTI services were mostly touch-tone response systems. Now, computer-telephony integration companies are able to offer more and varied services, including voice response systems.